Americans plan parties for many reasons. As in other cultures, many Americans attend parties for weddings and religious or national holidays. But some parties are especially American. For example, a group of neighbors may gather on their street to eat food, play music and visit with one another. This is called a block party. A woman might invite a group of women to a party called a baby shower for a friend who is about to give birth. Guests bring presents for the new baby.
Americans also attend tailgate parties. A tailgate is the back end of a truck or other vehicle that opens down. The tailgate parties are a big part of sports culture in the United States. Friends bring food and drink to a sports event. They eat together in the parking area of the sports stadium.
Birthday parties are also very popular. Many parents organize a party for their child around a theme. Birthday parties usually include gifts and a birthday cake with candles. In many parts of the United States, cupcakes have become a popular replacement for cakes.
Birthday parties can be low cost or very costly. Some parents take their children’s birthday parties very seriously, even when the child is too young to fully understand the celebration.
One group of parents started a website called Birthdays Without Pressure. They decided that some parents were under too much social pressure to plan costly parties for their children. The group sees this movement as an example of America’s culture of “too much stuff”. The group’s website gives suggestions on how to keep birthday celebrations simple, meaningful and fun without spending a lot of money. Their advice may be very helpful during this period of economic recession（萧条）.. What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Reasons for parties |
| B．Birthdays without pressure |
| C．American parties |
| D．Different parties in the world |
. How many kinds of parties does the passage mention?
| A．5. | B．6. |
| C．7. | D．8. |
. Eating together in the parking area of the sports stadium belongs to _________parties.
| A．block | B．baby shower |
| C．sports | D．tailgate |
. The purpose of Birthdays Without Pressure is to advise people to _________.
| A．relieve people’s pressure |
| B．have meaningful birthday parties with low cost |
| C．make birthday parties meaningful and costly |
| D．spread America’s culture |
.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Block party is especially American. |
| B．Some parties in America are the same as in other countries. |
| C．There’s a party for the mother before her new baby is born. |
| D．Birthday parties are the most popular in America. |
We spent a day in the country, picking wild flowers. With the car full of flowers we were going home. On our way back my wife noticed a cupboard (柜厨) outside a furniture shop. It was tall and narrow. “Buy it, ” my wife said at once. “We’ll carry it home on the roof rack. I’ve always wanted one like that.”
What could I do? Ten minutes later I was ￡20 poorer; and the cupboard was tied on the roof rack. It was six feet long and eighteen inches square, quite heavy too.
In the gathering darkness I drove slowly. Other drivers seemed unusually polite that evening. The police even stopped traffic to let us through. Carrying furniture was a good idea.
After a time my wife said, “There’s a long line of cars behind. Why don’t they overtake, I wonder?” In fact a police car did overtake. The two officers inside looked at us seriously as they passed. But then, with great kindness, they led us through the rush-hour traffic. The police car stopped at our village church. One of the officers came to me.
“Right, sir, ” he said. “Do you need any more help?”
I was a bit puzzled. “Thanks, officer, ” I said. “You have been very kind. I live just on the road.”
He was staring at our car, first at the flowers, then at the cupboard. “Well, well, ” he said, laughing. “It’s a cupboard you’ve got there! We thought it was something else.”
My wife began to laugh. The truth hit me like a stone between the eyes. I smiled at the officer. “Yes, it’s a cupboard, but thanks again.” I drove home as fast as I could.In fact the husband _______ the cupboard.
| A．would like very much to buy | B．badly wanted |
| C．was glad to have bought | D．would rather not buy |
Other drivers thought they were _______.
| A．carrying a cupboard to the church |
| B．sending flowers to the church |
| C．carrying nothing but a piece of furniture |
| D．going to attend a funeral(葬礼) at the church |
The police will be more polite to those who are _______.
| A．driving in gathering darkness |
| B．in great sorrow (悲痛) |
| C．driving with wild glowers in the car |
| D．carrying furniture |
What did the husband think of this matter?
| A．It was very strange. | B．He felt ashamed of it. |
| C．He took great pride in it. | D．He was puzzled at it. |
Did you see American figure skater, Jeremy Abbott, crash to the ice during the short program at the Sochi Olympics, rolling into the wall, clutching his side in pain. Ten seconds later, he got up and continued his skate—despite the pain, embarrassment and fear. All I could think was: this kid’s got courage. In business we have a word for it—resilience, the ability to gain strengths and confidence from overcoming unpleasant events.
However, opposite examples appeared in Sochi Olympics as well. For them, failure is someone else’s fault, because they do not accept personal responsibility. Therefore, they have to pay a high price for this attitude. After years of studying failure, I have learned one thing: modesty and open-mindedness in the face of mistakes is the single best thing you can do to improve results. Everyone fails, but not everyone recovers from failure. The key is to learn from it rather than get beaten by it.
The good news is that each of us has the potential to live a resilient life on and off the job. It may be difficult, but that just makes it all the more powerful and important. If you believe the above paragraph to be true, then you’re probably more resilient than you think you are. It takes confidence to be resilient but that too much confidence is a killer is so true of leadership. For example, Ron Johnson, the ill-fated CEO of JC Penney, was so stubborn that he completely missed all sorts of signals from employees and customers and instead listened to all those who agreed with him, which failed his strategy. Bouncing back from failure requires that you recognize something has gone wrong, and you were the one who made it happen.
The challenge of resilience is not just about our work. When parents help their kids deal with every challenging situation, they are doing an unhelpful action to their children. Parents want to protect their kids from failure, but doing so takes away the opportunity from them to practice not
just a life skill but an essential work skill. When self-esteem becomes more important than results, we are accidentallytraining young people to become less adaptable, not more.
Resilience is not just about getting up off the floor, but also being ready for whatever comes next, even when you don’t know what it is. Failures and setbacks are no longer unusual events, but regular features of a dynamic, competitive and highly demanding work environment. Getting up to finish your skate is no longer optional. The example of Jeremy Abbott shows that one should ______.
| A．recover from failure |
| B．stick to his own viewpoint |
| C．take others’ opinions to heart |
| D．challenge difficulties bravely |
According to the author, what can best build up resilience?
| A．Being positive and powerful. |
| B．Being competitive and helpful. |
| C．Being modest and open-minded. |
| D．Being confident and responsible. |
Which of the following examples shows us resilience?
| A．A teacher offers students timely help and care. |
| B．A determined athlete practices skating hard every day. |
| C．A confident leader persuades his staff to follow his plan. |
| D．A student has got a low grade but continues to work hard. |
Which might be the best title for the passage?
| A．An Example of Resilience: Ron Johnson |
| B．Resilience: A Lesson from Sochi |
| C．Optional Challenges of Resilience |
| D．Resilience in Family Education |
Sixteen-year-old Karlos Dearman’s future is looking much brighter than he might previously have imagined. “I love bikes, but I’ve never thought I’d end up with working with them,” he says. “This program has changed my life.”
Karlos is learning to refurbish (翻新) old bicycles in the workshop (车间) of ReCycle Bikes, an independent non-profit bike project in Sheffield. It provides training chances for young people aged 14 to 16 with the help of the local government, particularly those struggling in mainstream education or rejected from school.
“It’s about engaging young people with education and youth training by teaching them work and life skills,” explains Des Pearce, workshop training manager. “These young people have so much potential, but often don’t realize it.”
Founded in 2001, ReCycle Bikes repairs bicycles donated by the public, which are sold for ￡20 after refurbished. Abandoned bikes supplied by the government make sure a steady flow of bikes, but a recently formed partnership with Sheffield University should improve the further development.
“The student population presents a large and ready market,” says Pearce. “So we approached the university last year and offered to host bike sales on the campus (校园) . They thought it was a great idea, and agreed to provide us with more support. This means we can train young people to repair extra 500 bikes over three years.”
Having set up ReCycle Bikes on his own, Pearce now has the staff and resources to track the profession development of those who have passed through his workshop. “But we are planning exit interviews with the young people to make sure what they plan to do, and these will allow us to check on their progress,” says Pearce.
That most of the teenagers enjoy the work is, according to Pearce, easily explained. “Most kids have ridden a bike and know how to oil a chain or mend a flat tyre. As low-cost transport, cycling gives the young and old a sense of freedom and independence, and the effect on their well-being is big. Add to that a growing concern for the environment, and it’s no surprise that bike sales are on the increase.”From the passage, we know ReCycle Bikes ______.
| A. is a popular brand of bikes |
| B. provides training chances for young people |
| C. is a training project offered by the government |
| D. aims at making money by selling refurbished bicycles |
How did ReCycle Bikes run at the beginning?
| A. By working together with Sheffield University. |
| B. By selling bicycles supplied by the government. |
| C. By getting money from teenagers aged between 14 and 16. |
| D. By repairing bicycles donated by the public and selling them. |
ReCycle Bikes has formed a partnership with Sheffield University because _____.
| A. students at Sheffield University can be their potential customers |
| B. Sheffield University donates a lot of money to ReCycle Bikes |
| C. teenagers at ReCycle Bikes can study at Sheffield University |
| D. Sheffield University offers to host bike sales on the campus |
According to Pearce, why do most of the teenagers enjoy the work?
| A. They’d like to change their lives. |
| B. They want to learn how to repair bikes. |
| C. They don’t have enough money to buy cars. |
| D. They are familiar with bikes and interested in them. |
Throughout my 41 years at General Electric, I've experienced a lot．In the media, I've gone from prince to pig and back again．And I've been called many things．
In the early days, some called me a crazy, wild man．When I became CEO two decades ago, Wall Street asked, "Jack who?"
When I tried to make GE more competitive by cutting back our workforce in the early 1980s, the media called me "Neutron Jack．" When they learned we were focused on values and culture at GE, people asked if "Jack has gone soft．" I've been No．1 or No．2 Jack, Services Jack, Global Jack, and, in more recent years．Six Sigma Jack and e-Business Jack．
When we made an effort to acquire Honeywell in October 2000, and I agreed to stay on through the transition （ 过渡期 ） , some thought of me as the Long-in-the-Tooth Jack hanging on by his fingertips to his CEO job．
Those characterizations said less about me and a lot more about the stage our company went through．Truth is, down deep, I've never really changed much from the boy my mother raised in Salem, Massachusetts．
When I started on this journey in 1981 , standing before Wall Street analysts for the first time at New York's Pierre Hotel, I said I wanted GE to become " the most competitive enterprise on earth．" My objective was to put a small-company spirit in a big-company body, to build an organization out of an old-line industrial company that would be more high-spirited, more adaptable, and more flexible than companies that are one-fiftieth our size．I said then that I wanted to create a company " where people dare to try new things ?where people know that only the limits of their creativity and drive, their own standards of personal excellence, will be the ceiling on how far and how fast they move．"
I've put my mind, my heart, and my courage into that journey every day of the 40-plus years I've been lucky enough to be a part of GE．According to the first two paragraphs, the author ______．
| A．had many ups and downs |
| B．had a poor image in public |
| C．became CEO of GE 41 years ago |
| D．suffered from some mental illnesses |
As the author sees it, the many nicknames of him indicate ______．
| A．the change of his character with the time |
| B．the various opinions of different journalists |
| C．his company's different stages of development |
| D．his popularity among his friends and relatives |
According to the author, GE in 1981 ______．
| A．should seek broader space for development |
| B．was the most competitive company in the world |
| C．differed from many old-line industrial companies |
| D．was a big company with a small-company's spirit |
You know what it’s like．You've just arrived in Toronto after a long flight, and all you really want to do is to lie down and relax in your hotel room．But first you have to make a few quick notes for tomorrow's meeting, then check your e-mails, and perhaps print out a few things．And you need to make a few local telephone calls, and one call home to your family．
And what do you usually get? Your desk is just about big enough for a cup of coffee; there's no desk lamp; the stationery （办公用品） is a couple of sheets of headed notepaper; and a pen doesn't work．Printing has to be arranged with the Reception, and when you try to use your cell phone you find that it won't work in Canada．
Well, Harmony is different．Just tell us in advance what you're going to need, and we'll see that it's waiting for you when you arrive．There will be a printer in your room if you want one, and a cell phone that really works．All you have to pay for is the calls you make．
We can also arrange a room for business meetings, and, using the very best employment agency, even supply a secretary to take minutes．All we ask is a few days' notice．
All our-rooms are of the same high standard, and we guarantee not to increase prices in the next twelve months．But book now, because we're already filling up fast, and we'd hate 1:0 disappoint you．
Harmony-the hotel you ye always wanted; but never been able to find-until now.The advertisement is intended for
| A．airline staff |
| B．business people |
| C．secretaries |
| D．tourists |
What must the guest do if he wants a secretary?
| A．Inform the hotel in advance． |
| B．Tell the Reception on arrival． |
| C．Call an employment agency． |
| D．Put up a notice in the hotel． |
Why is it best to book now?
| A．The best rooms go first． |
| B．Prices might increase soon． |
| C．It ensures high standard rooms． |
| D．Rooms may become unavailable． |
What is special about Harmony^
| A．It offers telephone calls for free． |
| B．It provides printing at the Reception． |
| C．It gives high standard information services． |
| D．It makes arrangements to meet guests' needs． |